Word-gate: the overuse of some terms

I saw this list of "banned words," via Reddit, and thought I could supply a few of the more common ones heard around my place of work. Of course all these words and phrases are IT- and corporate-speak. Use them at your peril, since they are known to suck the soul out of young, honest, hard-working persons. I am already a cube zombie, so there's no hope for my soul.

1. Space. Subject area or topic. "I can speak to the Internet space." The accepted use refers only to capacity of disk drives. Personally, this word drives me crazy.
   
2. Speak to. Talk about. See the above travesty. "Can you speak to the issues we've been having?" I am always tempted to answer: "Only if they can speak back."
3. Manage to. Manage, period. "I am managing to the issues." Huh? I think this is contamination from speaking to things too much.
4. Flush out. It's supposed to mean flesh out, or discover, as in: "We need to flush out the requirements." Then again, maybe they really do mean "flush out." Bird hunters, that's what we are.
5. FTE. Full-Time Equivalent, or "real" employee. I know this really isn't jargon or zombie-speak, but it's amazing how quickly our speech patterns are willing to evolve. Incidentally, we do not speak of contractors as FTEs. An FTE is strictly an on-salary person.
6. Associate. Related to FTE--employee. Actually, I feel this is a much nicer term than FTE, but I've always thought it odd.
7. Matrixed-in. Cross-organizational involvement in a project. Virtually every project is run this way, now. Oh, and nearly every project team is ...
8. Virtual. Not occupying the same general physical space. Most common usage: virtual team. Could be referring to "off-shore" resources, but more likely this refers to project team members located in different physical work locations. My company is large, and we have several offices in different parts of the country. Just like every other big company.
9. Resources. See FTE or associate, above, but this term is inclusive of non-employees. I don't find it particularly objectionable, but it does tend to dehumanize us. Then again, I suppose it's appropriate to refer to contractors as "resources," instead of people. Makes them easier to fire.
   
10. Off-shore. IT workers in India. The latest lame-brained idea by management to save money on IT projects. It may result in the delivery of projects with an acceptable cost, but they always take longer. Maybe they're more predictable, since the virtual team is all somewhere else and doesn't spend all their time in meetings. I don't know, though. I'm always in meetings.

I have a whole host of buzz-phrases related specifically to software development, but I'm not proposing we ban them, necessarily. It's just that by the time management adopts them they will have ceased to have any true meaning. For example: "We're adding three pairs and creating a new line." Sure you are.

Welcome back to the future. I'm proud to be "just a programmer." Don't get me started.

Irrefutable logic?

I caught this article discussing who created God. Interesting. Of the three premises in the article, they address only two:

1. Does the universe have a beginning? (Most agree it does.)
   
2. Denial of cause and effect (Something about quantum mechanics, and about something being created out of nothing.)

The third premise in their proof is not addressed at all. I quote it here: "God, unlike the universe, had no beginning, so doesn't need a cause." (Emphasis theirs.) A few times they use the words "God, by definition ..." as if simply saying something is so, makes it so. Don't we wish!

This is their conclusion:

A last desperate tactic by skeptics to avoid a theistic conclusion is to assert that creation in time is incoherent. Davies correctly points out that since time itself began with the beginning of the universe, it is meaningless to talk about what happened before the universe began. But he claims that causes must precede their effects. So if nothing happened before the universe began, then (according to Davies) it is meaningless to discuss the cause of the universes beginning.

But the philosopher (and New Testament scholar) William Lane Craig, in a useful critique of Davies, pointed out that Davies is deficient in philosophical knowledge. Philosophers have long discussed the notion of simultaneous causation. Immanuel Kant (17241804) gave the example of a weight resting on a cushion simultaneously causing a depression in it. Craig says:

The first moment of time is the moment of God's creative act and of creation's simultaneous coming to be.

Some skeptics claim that all this analysis is tentative, because that is the nature of science. So this cant [sic] be used to prove creation by God. Of course, skeptics can't have it both ways: saying that the Bible is wrong because science has proved it so, but if science appears consistent with the Bible, then well, science is tentative anyway.

Avoid a theistic conclusion? I don't even have to get into the debate. This is a false dichotomy, because there are more than two alternatives, and you only need a theistic conclusion if you accept their third premise, which they totally ignore. Furthermore, this "argument" is nothing but red-herring-style hand-waving, trying to push the point in contention away from evidence of God to evidence of ... something else (something about the problem with "simultaneous creation" or creation out of nothing, or something). The "analysis" they present isn't simply or merely tentative, it's totally beside the point.

The more crucial aspect of their argument is that whole "and here a miracle occurs" thing. For those who already believe God created the universe, this may be easy to accept. For the rest of us, it's a little too great a leap of logic. Or something. I'm not saying the universe didn't have a creator--I really have no idea how it began--I'm just saying, don't define God as not needing a cause (eternal, unbounded, and all that) and then use that unfounded and unproven assertion to "prove" that he/she created the universe. I could just as easily say it was invisible giant turtles, because by definition something has to hold the universe up. I mean, if they don't exist, then how does it keep from falling?

Refute that.

What is a conservative? What is a liberal?

Let's start with an anecdote. I once had a former cube neighbor loudly accuse me of being a "damn liberal," in much the same tones as we often hear from the likes of Limbaugh, Coulter, and others. I almost couldn't believe he was "going there," as they say. The only reply possible, and which I gave him, was that he didn't know anything about me. Which he didn't.

So the other day I read that the voice behind Little Green Footballs is "parting ways with the right." Now I read that Andrew Sullivan is doing something similar. Many others, some of whom Sullivan cites, have done the same.

So, what about me? When asked, I describe my politics as socially liberal, but fiscally conservative. I believe in public education--perhaps the single most important thing we could do with our money--and I believe that being the richest country (well, being in the top ten, or so) automatically makes us capable of providing for the health of our poorest and least capable. These folks are not all old, and we should take care of them simply because we can. I also see the value in some other "social programs" such as food stamps, because not everyone getting food stamps deserves to starve. Some will take advantage of the system, sure, but the good greatly outweighs the bad. So, I guess you could say I'm socially liberal.

But I am not a fan of the kinds of unlimited spending we've been experiencing. I think war and defense spending are outrageously over the top, because we are paying much too much to kill others, when we could/should be paying to help others. Soldiers die and big business gets rich. Meanwhile, over 15% of Americans are out of work. Something's wrong with this picture, here.

I manage my finances with care and restraint. I don't risk what I can't afford to lose. Everyone should, so I guess that makes me a fiscal conservative.

With respect to differences of opinion, I have no problem talking seriously with someone who doesn't agree with me. Let's talk; we can work it out. As long as we both are looking at the same problems realistically and rationally, and both agree that it will take all our combined efforts to fix things, then that's fine. I don't expect to get everything I want; no one else should expect that, either.

My take on today's "conservative right" is that many of them are simply nuts. They don't seem to have a firm grasp on reality, and to me that's just dangerous. Most so-called conservative pundits (like Limbaugh and Coulter) are simply pandering, and that's no better. It may even be worse, since they know the difference.

... And better and better

This follow-up post is part review of Avatar, and part continued discussion of my story, A Far Sun. (Hey, it's my story; I'll talk about it if I want.)

I've read a few reviews/commentaries on James Cameron's newest movie blockbuster, Avatar. Some guy on Reddit posted "$300 million, and all we get are Native American space elves?" I responded sarcastically, something to the effect that I was sure he's done much better. He seemed to feel that for the money a better story could have been written, but one tends to forget that putting butts in seats is the primary objective of any movie--i.e., it's entertainment--so we will just have to forgive Mr. Cameron that he made his native people so ... human.

There will be no spoilers in my review, so don't worry. I really enjoyed the movie, and I highly recommend it. Visually it's stunning, and (almost) worth the ticket price on that basis alone. I suppose 3D is an added bonus. (There is one point where you'll be swatting insects--it's a real immersion moment.) Visually quite stunning. I almost even said 'wow' at a couple points (but then I'm old, and easily impressed. Huh).

The story is not as strong as many would have liked. John Scalzi, in his blog Whatever, felt that way, but I think he also gets it, too. The most thorough review/comparison I've read is on chud.com. That guy read Cameron's earlier treatment, called Project 880, and notes many differences between the movie originally envisioned, and the finished product. It's a rather long blow-by-blow comparison; I won't recap it here, except to say that Avatar is more streamlined and even less preachy than Project 880 would have been.

Now on to my favorite subject: A Far Sun. Both my wife and stepdaughter mentioned the similarities between it and Avatar. I don't paint a picture highlighting the evils of technology, which I think could be inferred from the movie, but I do have gentle native people (who even speak a little English. Both writers plausibly handle the reasons why). My natives aren't 10' tall with blue skin (no spoiler there--the movie trailer shows this clearly). Instead, they're regular-sized and orange-ish. No, the sun-skins aren't oompa-loompas, and quite honestly I never even thought about that when I envisioned them. Of course, I can see why you might think that. (I did think of sun-skins as 'native Americans meet the Amish,' but with a slightly orange tint to their skin. Just enough to make them different. That was the point. Besides, I really liked the name 'sun-skin.')

I have an evil bad guy--the 'Head Librarian' (of all the titles for him to have!)--though by the end of book 2 I've hardly done more than introduce him. All his evil has come out by proxy. His 'minion' in the story, the 'chief ambassador' is a powerful, ambitious man who is following his master's orders very faithfully. We don't find out why he's doing this, yet, but I have certainly set up this promise. In fact, we don't really know why anyone would be following the Head Librarian, but we do know how afraid they are of him. Perhaps they have good reason.

So, I'm now sitting on a blank page at the beginning of book 3. Some might be wondering how I could possibly have an entire novel still to tell (especially some of my friends and family who have been patiently listening to me talk about this for forever), but actually, having reached this point in the process, another 100K words feels about right. It gives me a chance to more fully flesh out the insanity of my big bad guy and more thoroughly draw out the distinctions between sun-skin philosophy and 'pale-skin' philosophy. Oh, and plenty of knuckle-chewing action. The 'cold war' between them will become a hot, shooting war, with the potential for more death (and destruction).

The inhumanity in my story is not 'big' inhumanity the way it is in Avatar. Mine is small, on the scale of just one person. Though, to be fair, this one man's hold over the others could not have been accomplished without help, or at least 'inertial neglect'. Or, perhaps he's really not so different from them, after all.

With my decision to keep on truckin' with the story (I had intended to end it with this second book), it now means I can also extend the time line, somewhat. I had always wanted to write about their survival over a winter, since in primitive conditions it can very trying. Also, since at least one of my heroines is pregnant, with more time to fill in a third novel, we get to follow her over a much longer period during her pregnancy. Also, being 'with child' will heighten the tension, later, when things are coming to an exciting climax. There are other motivating factors, as well, that I must, alas, continue to keep secret.

On a final note: last night my wife was talking about this current work in comparison to the one I had been writing back about 2004-ish. I know that other work isn't very good, for several reasons. She likes the current one, a lot, and says that not only am I a better writer, but that my story is also much, much better. I've read both works; it's not hard to see why she says this.

That's all for now. Maybe sometime I'll talk about how one turns a very rough story idea into a fully fleshed-out work, because that's about all that's required to write a novel. Everyone comes up with story ideas that could maybe fill two chapters. How you turn those two chapters into fifty is the trick. But, it's not that difficult. Or, then again, maybe it is. We'll find out.

It just keeps getting longer and longer ...

Well, this is interesting.

I was determined that during my holiday this year I would make some really good progress on my story, A Far Sun. Well, I did. I worked through the blocker I'd been facing, got some really good inspiration, and shot right through to ...

The end of book 2. Book 3, and the exciting conclusion is to follow. Sometime over the next year, probably.

Now, I have no freaking idea how long book 3 will be. Book 1 was about 117K, book 2 has come in at just over 97K. Book 3 will be ... er, whatever it turns out to be. The story is damned good, so there's no worries over whether I'll have enough story to tell. I've learned very well by now that I always have enough story to tell. The challenge for me is ending it. It's been moving along, though (214K worth, so far) and I really do know where it's going and how it's going to end. Trust me, I really, really do.

So, I will continue following the travels of Adam and Jane and their friends Lina and Rëmi. Actually, these last two are a bit more than just "friends," but you'll have to read the books to find out more about them.

I had thought I would get him introduced earlier, but our good buddy Cameron Fralick, the "big bad guy" in the story (oops, did I give something away? If so, well then too bad) finally makes his most auspicious appearance right at the end of book 2. And it's a memorable appearance, as well. Can you say "cliff-hanger ending"? Yep, that's what it is. And I'm loving it!

Readers, don't hate me, because you're going to like what's coming up. Oh, I forgot I don't have any readers, yet. Well, never mind. For now you'll just have to take my word for it--the story is good. Maybe it's not for everyone, but that doesn't matter because you simply can't please everyone. It pleases me, and I'm not some 16 year-old kid who's going to read this thing in a few years and think it's a piece of shit. But then, I'm feeling pretty good right now, so please forgive me if it sounds like I'm gushing all over myself. Someone has to do it.

Stay tuned. There's more to come.